Racing News

Dates Set for 2011 Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Oaks Future Wager Pools

Churchill Downs has established dates for a trio of three-day betting pools in its 2011 Kentucky Derby Future Wager (“KDFW”) and a single pool for this year’s Kentucky Oaks Future Wager (“KOFW”).

Dates established for the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which is being conducted for the 13th consecutive year, are:

POOL 1 – Feb. 18-20

POOL 2 – March 11-13

POOL 3 – April 1-3

Wagering on each of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager pools will open at noon (all times Eastern) on Friday and close on Sunday at 6 p.m. The KDFW Pools will include both win and exacta wagering.

The dates for the single pool for the Kentucky Oaks Future Wager will again run concurrently with Pool 2 of the Derby Future. The 2011 Oaks Future Pool is set for March 11-13. Betting on that pool will open at noon on Firday, March 11, but close on Sunday, March 13 at 6:30 p.m., which is 30 minutes after the conclusion of wagering on the second Derby Future Pool.

There is a significant change in the Kentucky Oaks Future Wager as exacta betting will be offered as part of that wager for the first time. The Kentucky Oaks pool, which is being offered for the ninth consecutive year, had previously offered win betting only. Exacta wagering has been offered on the past five Derby Future pools over the past two years.

The Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks Future Wagers provide fans of those races opportunities to wager on potential competitors in those races at odds that could be considerably more attractive than those available on the day of the respective race. Winning payouts on the Derby and Oaks Future Wagers are determined by the odds in place at the end of each respective betting pool.

All bets in the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks Future Wagers are $2 minimum wagers. No refund will be made on any wager made during the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks Future pools. If it is determined during those pools that any of the individual betting interests has suffered an illness, injury or other circumstance that would prevent that horse from competing in either race, wagering on that betting interest will be suspended immediately.

Both the KDFW and KOFW pools consist of 24 wagering interests that include 23 individual horses and a mutuel field, or “all others” interest. In the Kentucky Derby wager, the mutuel field is made up of all other 3-year-olds – including fillies. The mutuel field in the Kentucky Oaks bet consists of all other 3-year-old fillies.

Winning payouts in all three pools of the 2010 Kentucky Derby Future Wager on WinStar Farm’s victorious Super Saver were significantly larger than the $18 mutuel returned for a winning ticket on the Todd Pletcher trainee on Derby Day. A $2 KDFW bet on Super Saver returned $43.20 in Pool 1, $51.20 in Pool 2 and $73 in Pool 3. The Derby Future bet’s $2 exacta in Pool 3 for 1-2 Derby finishers Super Saver and Ice Box returned $1,077.40 – a record payout in the brief history of the Derby Future exacta. The exacta that combined those two horses on Derby Day returned $152.40.

The 137th running of the Kentucky Oaks, America’s top race for 3-year-old fillies that will carry a record purse of $1 million guaranteed in 2011, is scheduled for Friday, May 6 at Churchill Downs. The $2 million guaranteed Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands will be run on Saturday, May 7.

Wagering interests for each of the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks Future Wager will be announced on the Wednesday prior to the Friday start of each pool. Real-time odds and other information on the KDFW will be available at the official event Web site at www.KentuckyDerby.com, and information on the KOFW will be available at www.KentuckyOaks.com.